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Adolf Hitler's rise to power in Germany
In 1919, he joined a struggling group called the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, better known as the Nazi Party. Despite its name, this party had no ties to socialism. Hitler proved to be such a powerful public speaker and organizer that he quickly became the party’s leader. Calling himself Der Führer—“the Leader”—he promised to bring Germany out of chaos -
Benito Mussolini Fascist Government in Italy
By 1921, Mussolini had established the Fascist
Party. Fascism stressed nationalism and
placed the interests of the state above those of individuals.
To strengthen the nation, Fascists argued, power
must rest with a single strong leader and a small group
of devoted party members. -
Mein Kampf
One of the Nazis’ aims, as Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, was “to secure for the German people the land and soil to which they are entitled on this earth,” even if this could be accomplished only by “the might of a victorious sword.” -
Japanese Invasion of Manchuria
Ignoring the protests of more moderate Japanese officials, the militarists launched a surprise attack and seized control of the Chinese province of Manchuria in 1931. -
Storm Troopers
Many men who were out of work joined Hitler’s private army, the storm troopers (or Brown Shirts). -
Third Reich
Once in power, Hitler quickly dismantled Germany’s democratic Weimar Republic. In its place he established the Third Reich, or Third German Empire. According to Hitler, the Third Reich would be a “Thousand-Year Reich”—it would last for a thousand years. -
Hitler's military build-up in Germany
In 1933, Hitler pulled Germany out of the League. In 1935, he began a military buildup in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. -
Mussolini's invasion of Ethopia
Meanwhile, Mussolini began building his new Roman Empire. His first target was Ethiopia, one of Africa’s few remaining independent countries. By the fall of 1935, tens of thousands of Italian soldiers stood ready to advance on Ethiopia. When the invasion began, however, the League’s response was an ineffective economic boycott—little more than a slap on Italy’s wrist. By May 1936, Ethiopia had fallen. -
Hitler invades the Rhineland
A year later, he sent troops into the Rhineland, a German region bordering France and Belgium that was demilitarized as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. The League did nothing to stop Hitler. -
Francisco Franco
In 1936, a group of Spanish army officers led by General Francisco
Franco, rebelled against the Spanish republic -
Rome-Berlin Axis
The war forged a close relationship between the German and Italian dictators, who signed a formal alliance known as the Rome-Berlin Axis. -
Hitler's Anschluss
On March 12, 1938, German troops marched into
Austria unopposed. A day later, Germany announced that its
Anschluss, or “union,” with Austria was complete. The United
States and the rest of the world did nothing -
Munich Agreement
On September 30, 1938, they signed the Munich Agreement, which turned the Sudetenland over to Germany without a single shot being fired -
Joseph Stalin's totalitarian government in the Soviet Union
By 1939, Stalin had firmly established a totalitarian government that tried to exert complete control over its citizens. -
Non Aggression Pact
Was a neutrality pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed in Moscow on 23 August 1939 by foreign ministers Joachim von Ribbentrop and Vyacheslav Molotov, respectively -
Blitzkrieg
This invasion was the first test of Germany’s newest military strategy, the blitzkrieg, or lightning war. Blitzkrieg made use of advances in military technology—such as fast tanks and
more powerful aircraft—to take the enemy by surprise and then quickly crush all opposition with overwhelming force. -
Britain and France Declare War on Germany
On September 3, two days following the terror in Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany -
Phony War
The Phoney War was an eight-month period at the start of World War II, during which there was only one limited military land operation on the Western Front, when French troops invaded Germany's Saar district. -
Battle of the Atlantic
The Battle of the Atlantic was the longest continuous military campaign[7][8] in World War II, running from 1939 to the defeat of Germany in 1945. It was a major part of the Naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allied naval blockade of Germany, announced the day after the declaration of war, and Germany's subsequent counter-blockade. It was at its height from mid-1940 through to the end of 1943. -
Hitler's Invasion of Denmark and Norway
On this day in 1940, German warships enter major Norwegian ports, from Narvik to Oslo, deploying thousands of German troops and occupying Norway. At the same time, German forces occupy Copenhagen, among other Danish cities. -
Hitler's Invasion of the Netherlands
The direct involvement of the Netherlands in World War II began with its invasion by Nazi Germany on 10 May 1940. The Netherlands had proclaimed neutrality when war broke out in September 1939, just as it had in World War I, but Adolf Hitler ordered it to be invaded anyway. -
Germany and Italy's Invasion of France
Italian invasion of France. The Italian invasion of France, also called the Battle of the Alps (10–25 June 1940), was the first major Italian engagement of World War II and the last major engagement of the Battle of France. ... On 17 June, France announced that it would seek an armistice with Germany. -
Marshal Philippe Petain
Was a French general officer who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of World War I, during which he became known as The Lion of Verdun, and in World War II served as the Chief of State of Vichy France from 1940 to 1944. -
The Battle of Britain
Was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force, the Luftwaffe. It has been described as the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces -
Lend-Lease Act
Proposed in late 1940 and passed in March 1941, the Lend-Lease Act was the principal means for providing U.S. military aid to foreign nations during World War II. -
Pearl Harbor Attack
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory, on the morning of December 7, 1941. Led to the United States entry in WWII. -
Office of Price Administration
The OPA fought inflation by freezing prices on most goods. -
War Productions Board
The WPB decided which companies would convert from
peacetime to wartime production and allocated raw materials
to key industries. The WPB also organized drives to collect
scrap iron, tin cans, paper, rags, and cooking fat for
recycling into war goods. Across America, children scoured
attics, cellars, garages, vacant lots, and back alleys, looking
for useful junk. During one five-month-long paper drive in
Chicago, schoolchildren collected 36 million pounds of old
paper—about 65 pounds per child. -
Interment
Japanese internment camps were established during World War II by President Franklin Roosevelt through his Executive Order 9066. From 1942 to 1945, it was the policy of the U.S. government that people of Japanese descent would be interred in isolated camps. Enacted in reaction to Pearl Harbor and the ensuing war. -
U.S. Convoy System
Convoys were groups of ships traveling together for mutual protection, as they had done in the First World War. The convoys were escorted across the Atlantic by destroyers equipped with sonar for detecting submarines underwater -
Battle of Stalingrad
Largest confrontation of World War II in which Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in Southern Russia -
Operation Torch
The Anglo-American invasion of French North Africa during the North African Campaign of the Second World War which started on 8 November 1942. It is the first major operation that US troops undertook in the European / North African theatre of World War II -
Women's Auxiliary Army Crops
The Women's Army Corps (WAC) was the women's branch of the United States Army. It was created as an auxiliary unit, the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) on 15 May 1942 by Public Law 554, and converted to an active duty status in the Army of the United States as the WAC on 1 July 1943. Its first director was Oveta Culp Hobby, a prominent woman in Texas society.The WAC was disbanded in 1978, and all units were integrated with male units. -
Korematsu v. United States
In 1944, the Supreme Court decided, in Korematsu v. United States, that the government’s policy of evacuating Japanese
Americans to camps was justified on the basis of “military necessity.” -
Bloody Anzio
This battle, “Bloody Anzio,” lasted four months—until the end of May 1944—and left about 25,000 Allied and 30,000 Axis casualties. During the year after Anzio, German armies continued to put up strong resistance. The effort to free Italy did not succeed until
1945, when Germany itself was close to collapse. -
D-Day
D-Day—June 6, 1944, the first day
of the invasion. Shortly after midnight, three divisions
parachuted down behind German lines. They were followed
in the early morning hours by thousands upon
thousands of seaborne soldiers—the largest land-sea-air
operation in army history. -
The Battle of the Bulge
The last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. It was launched through the densely forested Ardennes region of Wallonia in eastern Belgium, northeast France, and Luxembourg, towards the end of World War II. The surprise attack caught the Allied forces completely off guard. American forces bore the brunt of the attack and incurred their highest casualties of any operation during the war -
Unconditional Surrender
At this meeting, the two leaders agreed to accept only the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers. That is, enemy nations would have to accept whatever terms of peace the Allies
dictated. The two leaders also discussed where to strike next. The Americans argued that the best approach to victory was to assemble a massive invasion fleet in Britain and to launch it across the English Channel, through France, and into the heart of
Germany. -
Death of Hitler
Wrote out his last address to the Germans. In it he blamed the Jews for starting the war and his generals for losing it. “I die with a happy heart aware of the immeasurable deeds of our soldiers at the front. I myself and my wife choose to die in order to escape the disgrace of . . . capitulation,” he said. The next day Hitler shot himself while his new wife swallowed poison. In accordance with Hitler’s orders, the two bodies were carried outside, soaked with gasoline, and burned. -
V-E Day
A week later, General Eisenhower accepted the unconditional surrender of the Third Reich. On May 8, 1945, the Allies celebrated V-E Day—Victory in Europe Day. The war in Europe was finally over -
Harry S. Truman
President Roosevelt did not live to see V-E Day. On April 12, 1945, while posing for a portrait in Warm Springs, Georgia, the president
had a stroke and died. That night, Vice President Harry S. Truman
became the nation’s 33rd president. -
Manhattan Project
Roosevelt responded by creating an Advisory Committee on Uranium to study the new discovery. In 1941, the committee reported that it would take from three to five years to build an atomic bomb. Hoping to shorten that time, the OSRD set up an intensive program in 1942 to develop a bomb as quickly as possible. Because much of the early research was performed at Columbia University in Manhattan, the Manhattan Project became the code name for research work that extended
across the country.
